Punk rock is a complex genre to tackle, but music journalist and filmmaker Scott Crawford does so admirably in Spoke: Images and Stories from the 1980s Washington, D.C. Punk Scene. A companion to the author's documentary Salad Days, the collection of photos and stories nevertheless stands on its own in homage to the scene Crawford grew up in, offering detailed context, interviews and commentary.
He opens with punk stalwarts Bad Brains, founded in 1977, expounding on their influence with quotes from such music legends as Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Thurston Moore and Dave Grohl. Countless punk icons feature throughout the catalogue of D.C. bands. MacKaye's projects--Teen Idles, Minor Threat and Fugazi--appear in detail as bands that stamped their identity onto American eardrums.
Crawford includes detailed introductions to many of the bands by rock writer Tim Stegall, whose summaries help put both the artists and their music in context. Photos, often shot by Jim Saah, explode with raw, visceral energy. Show posters and fliers offer additional windows into the community and era through pen and passion, relics of a perpetually evolving scene. Spoke is an ode to a particular time and place, but Crawford assures readers it's no "misty-eyed scrapbook" or mere nostalgia; instead, it's a forthright testament to a kaleidoscopic community. This is a rounded collection, with surprises on every page. Given its D.C. focus, Spoke may encapsulate a fairly narrow slice of punk, but it's a critical one--and it's a collection that rocks. --Katie Weed, freelance writer and reviewer